Among those at the club's Hurworth training ground this morning are Daniel Ayala and Adam Reach - who has returned to Teesside following a fruitful loan spell at Preston North End.

Ben Gibson, Jordan Rhodes, Stewart Downing, Julien de Sart and James Husband were also among the early arrivals ahead of Boro's Premier League return, but Viktor Fischer is set to link up with his new teammates later this week.

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It is the second consecutive year that Boro have travelled to Bootham Crescent for their pre-season curtain-raiser, with last year's game marred by a horrific injury to new signing Alex Baptiste.

Karanka and assistant Steve Agnew are expected to give the entire first-team squad and a handful of Academy prospects a chance to impress this weekend.

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Other friendly away games already scheduled into the diary is Doncaster Rovers on July 16 (3pm) and Aston Villa on July 30 (3pm).

It is also increasingly likely that Karanka will take the first team squad to the Marbella Football Center this summer for a warm-weather training camp, with another friendly likely to be revealed in due course for the weekend of August 6/7.